Ways You Can Provide “Help for Haiti”

It’s been more than two weeks since devastating earthquakes hit Haiti. From the beginning, people everywhere began donating their time, money and resources to help toward the recovery. However, knowing where we started over a year ago, earthquake recovery is just the beginning. The people of Haiti still need our help today, tomorrow and in the future.

Meals from the Heartland has committed to help feed the poor any way we can, but we need your help. Please consider donating to Meals from the Heartland or another trusted organization. Below are some ways you can help make a difference with Meals from the Heartland.

* On February 5, “Hearts for Haiti,” a Valentine’s Day-themed benefit, will be held to raise money for Haiti earthquake victims. The event’s organizer, Olivia Ahlrichs, will donate all proceeds from the event to Meals from the Heartland. This money will go toward purchasing the supplies for packaging meals for Haiti. The benefit begins at 6 p.m. at the Copper Creek Golf Course Clubhouse, in Pleasant Hill.

“Hearts for Haiti” will feature a silent auction, light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar, as well as entertainment by Mike Butterworth, lead singer for the Iowa-based band The Nadas, and Bonne Finken, fellow singer/songwriter. Valentine’s Day gifts in the form of chocolate covered strawberries, truffles and children’s tutu’s will be available for purchase and can be delivered to recipients on Valentine’s Day weekend. Tickets for “Hearts for Haiti” will be sold for $15 at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. You can also go here for more information.

* During the week of February 22, we will be partnering with Lutheran Church of Hope to hold a special Haiti food packaging event. While we are still in the process of organizing the event and will soon be asking for volunteers, please remember we can only package as much food as we have funding for, so donate today!

REMEMBER: Nearly $.95 of every $1 donated to Meals from the Heartland is applied directly to our mission. That $.95 is specifically connected to purchasing raw materials, assembling those materials into ready to eat food packages, and delivering those meals directly to those in need.

You can donate toward this cause here. We will package as many meals as we have funding for du

ring the event and all meals will immediately be shipped to Haiti.

Please consider donating your time and/or money to any of the above causes. The people of Haiti need our help now more than ever.

Thank you & God bless!

Community & Business Leaders Join to “Scan Away Hunger”

KCCI and Fareway have partnered with Meals from the Heartland to “Scan Away Hunger.” Starting immediately, when you purchase your groceries at any Fareway store you can ask for a card to be scanned that will allow you to donate $1, $5 or $10 toward the Help for Haiti efforts. We are grateful to have KCCI and Fareway helping us.

Help For Haiti – Pray, Give, Serve

Help for Haiti

Photo credit: www.guardian.co.uk

Our hearts are hurting for the people of Haiti. The earthquake and aftershocks have created devastation beyond our imagination. The loss of life is staggering, thousands remain unaccounted for, and hundreds of thousands need medical care, water and food.  They are at risk and in trouble, and their road to recover will be long.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. It is a country of 9 million people that geographically is slightly smaller that the state of Maryland.

Nearly 2 million of the meals packaged at last fall’s Meals from the Heartland were shipped to Haiti and distributed through two partners, Lifeline Christian Ministries and Food for the Poor.

What can we do… what can you do… to provide Help for Haiti?

Please pray, give and serve as Meals from the Heartland is turning all available resources to helping the people of Haiti.

Pray:

Pray for God’s comfort and love to bless the people of Haiti, that help would quickly come from around the world to help those in need, and that He would touch each of our hearts to know what we can do to help.

We are receiving emails from those in Haiti… following are excerpts from two:

“PLEASE PRAY: So many lives lost, so much suffering, so much devastation, and so much that is hard to understand. Yet in my 20 years in Haiti, I have learned that the Haitian people are resilient and although they have not seen this kind of destruction before they will rise above it. Today’s struggle is to provide water and food for the kids and to keep ourselves strong and not allow fear or discouragement to creep in.  “

“We don’t have supplies to treat all the people…they are coming here in large numbers with broken limbs and severe wounds… a man and woman came to me and said their little boy’s arm was cut off in their home when the wall collapsed.  He is 18 months old and all he had of a right arm was a stub above the elbow.  I had to dress it and use duct tape for a pressure bandage as that is all we have and then I gave him some sleeping medicine.”

Give:

Consider giving to Meals from the Heartland or another organization that you trust. Please see links for two of our partners below, Lifeline Christian Ministries and Food for the Poor.  There are many others who are providing emergency aid, including Red Cross and the Salvation Army. It is not important where you give, but that you do.

If you choose to make a financial contribution to Meals from the Heartland, your gift will go towards the purchase of food ingredients that will be packaged and shipped to Haiti as quickly as possible (please see “Serve” below), as Meals from the Heartland is diverting all of its resources to Help for Haiti. Nearly 300,000 meals of packaged food in storage are being redirected immediately, with transportation expected via a US C-130 cargo plane scheduled for Des Moines.

Serve:

Based on contributions received between now and February 22nd, your gift will support local efforts to package food that week.  Meals from the Heartland is partnering with Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines to package as much food as possible the week of February 22nd to send to Haiti. Watch for additional posts or please check backfor details on how you can sign-up to volunteer to package food.

Please remember, we are only able to package and ship food to Haiti that we purchase in advance, so your tax-deductible gift is important.

Please pray, give and serve…
Thank you!

God bless,
Meals from the Heartland Team

PS: Following are two Meals from the Heartland partner organizations who are recipients of food we have donated to Haiti… Lifeline Christian Ministries: www.Lifeline.org; Food for the Poor: www.foodforthepoor.org

Isaiah 58:10 “Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.  Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.”